9427333_PPB_Sep20

to Storm Creek and continues to excite me is where the company can go and the impact that I can make along the way. The sky’s the limit. Being part of a smaller company has allowed me to have experiences that some people will never have. On a daily basis, I get to be a part of making decisions that change how the company interacts with our customers and get to strategize about how we can position ourselves best for the future. To me, the changes that we are making are exciting because they allow us to grow and become stronger as a company. From a personal side of things, it allows me to grow as an individual, too. What would you like to accomplish over the next 24 months? Personally, I would like to graduate from my MBA program, become involved with a charity organization and travel to two countries that I have never been to before. Professionally, I would like to continue to grow the Storm Creek brand, hit our sales numbers, become more involved in the national organizations within the promotional products industry and work on delegating tasks to my team so that I can focus on what is most important for my role and our business. How can the industry attract, recruit and retain more young professionals? I believe that in general, to attract and recruit young professionals the industry needs to step out of the shadows and that applies to distributors and suppliers. The industry flies under the radar and most people don’t stop to think about where their logoed products come from. The more exposure the industry can get, the better suited it will be to attract young talent (although that is easier said than done). I also believe that there needs to be more young professionals brought in as salespeople by distributors. This gives distributors an opportunity to mentor young professionals, grow their business and can even provide a transition strategy for distributors once they decide to make the move into retirement or scale back on their workload. What’s the best advice you can give others who are just starting out? The biggest piece of advice I would give is to listen. As a young professional in the promotional products industry, people genuinely want to help you and want to see you succeed. Ask questions and actively listen to the answers and advice that people share with you. This will allow you to gain insight into the industry, learn some of the issues the industry is facing and give you the opportunity to recommend changes based on what you know and are hearing. Tina Berres Filipski is editor of PPB. Continued from page 41 Colton Young FEATURE | Rising Stars 44 | SEPTEMBER 2020 |